Weekly Takes - Monday, November 24th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, November 24th Edition 

1. My three stars from the Leafs overtime win over the Blues on Tuesday…

1. Troy Stecher

2. Easton Cowan

3. Morgan Riley 

A great performance through 30 minutes, only to get outplayed against a bad team for the remainder of the game.

An ugly win, but a win, with a depleted lineup.

2. What my Leafs lines would be once everyone is healthy…

Forwards

Bobby McMann - Auston Matthews - William Nylander

Matthew Knies - John Tavares - Nick Robertson 

Cowan - Nicolas Roy - Matias Macceli 

Scott Laughton- Jacob Quillan - Steven Lorentz 

Extras: Max Domi and Dakota Joshua

Defence…

Riley - Chris Tanev

Jake McCabe - Brandon Carlo

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Stecher

Extra: Simon Benoit

Goaltending…

Joseph Woll

Anthony Stolarz

In Full-Time: Cowan, Quillan, and Stecher

Out: Calle Jarnkrok, Sammy Blais, Dakota Mermis, and Phillipe Myers 

Up front, you can honestly convince me that the top six, with the way your top four forwards are playing, is good enough to go on a deep run. Matthews, Nylander, Knies, and Tavares should be able to get by with McMann and Robertson.

The issue is the bottom-six is awful. Cowan has been good and you would hope Roy can turn it around (he has been shockingly bad), but even then, they need a third line right winger to replace Macceli, who has no fit on this team. Lorentz is a good 12th forward, but Quillan is far from proven and Joshua has been useless. The hope would be you can find a 3RW with speed.

Will they run this? No, as I would be shocked if they scratched Domi and waived Jarnkrok. But like Macceli, they have no fit on the roster when healthy.

Defensively, I honestly think those pairings are fine. The third pair can move the puck and I am not ready to write off Carlo if they simply dip him in the lineup.

I truly think this is more of a coaching issue than a roster issue. The Leafs defence has not lacked scoring this year, so clearly they are not awful with the puck. So maybe their issues breaking the puck out are with their systems!

3. My three stars from the Leafs overtime loss to the Blue Jackets on Thursday…

1. Cowan

2. Tavares

3. Nylander

One of their better performances of the season, but when you start as bad as the Leafs have, playing well is not good enough. You need two points.

4. I was not able to watch Leafs-Habs closely enough to form an opinion on the game itself, but I do know it was rock bottom.

I would have fired Craig Berube, and the hunt needs to be on for a new general manager as well.

Here would be my targets for both…

GMs…

• Sunny Mehta (Panthers AGM)

• Gregory Campbell (Panthers AGM)

• Roberto Luongo (Panthers Assistant to the GM)

• Rich Peverley (Stars Director of Player Personnel)

MLSE also can try flexings its financial muscles and go after a current general manager (Jim Nill, Kelly McCrimmon, Chris McFarland, Eric Tulsky, etc)

Head Coaches…

• David Carle (University of Denver)

• Jay Pandoflo (University of Boston)

• Jeff Halpern (Lightning)

• Peter DeBoer (Free Agent)

Reality is, a proper search in the offseason will be a must. They rushed the Brad Treliving hire. They need to nail this next duo.

5. It is tough not to think that the Steelers loss to the Bears is the end of an era.

They had the division wrapped up a month ago. Now they are out of a playoff spot and have a clear path to their first losing season under Mike Tomlin.

This, despite having the highest paid defence in the league.

Brutal.

6. It sure feels like the Chiefs fourth quarter comeback against the Colts on Sunday is the beginning of the end for the AFC.

The Chiefs were a quarter away from having the casket closed on them. I fear the sleeping giant is now awake.

7. Bold take, as we watch the Lions and Eagles look… unimpressive for yet another week…

The Seahawks are the only threat to the Rams in the NFC come playoff time.